The Birth Of Christ

The Birth of Christ

Luke 2:1-14

INTRO.- ILL.- A boy said to his friend, "Does your baby brother talk yet?" His buddy replied, "He doesn’t have to. He gets everything he wants by yelling."

Babies will be babies, won’t they?

Babies come in all varieties, shapes, sizes and weights, but regardless, they all yell or scream at times and they all wet their diapers and make messes.

ILL.- I read an article entitled, "When Baby Makes CHAOS." Babies do make for a certain amount of chaos in the home.

One husband said, "My wife is out all day at play groups, toddler gym, the park—anywhere but home. So when I come home from work, everything still needs to be done around the house!"

One wife said, "My husband gets home from work at six and sits down in front of the television set. When I ask him to take the baby so I can have a break, he says he’s had a rough day and needs to relax!"

One mother of two toddlers put it this way: "My husband thinks he’s off duty when he comes home each evening; but as a stay-at-home mom, I never go off duty. At 6 p.m., my husband is usually resting, but I’ve still got dinner to get on the table, the kitchen to clean up and storytime and baths for the kids."

I wonder if Mary, the mother of Jesus, felt that way about Joseph.

Babies make for a lot of work in the home. Hopefully, both mom and dad will share the load.

It’s almost time for the baby to be born. What baby? It could be any baby. Let’s compare notes.

ILL.- I have a twin sister. She weighed over 5 lbs. and got to go home from St. John’s hospital on schedule. I weighed four pounds and several ounces. I had to stay in the hospital for a month before I got to go home. I used to torment mom and say, "You didn’t want me. You left me all alone in that hospital!"

She said, "I did want you. I felt terrible. I went down to the corner and used the pay phone every day to call the hospital to check on you."

They finally let me go home. Either that or they kicked me out for bad behavior.

Hey! If you ever thought I was a runt, listen to this: BOB MORTON DIDN’T EVEN WEIGH 3 LBS. AT BIRTH! (although there is some debate over his weight. Bob says he was just less than two pounds and Janet says he was just less than three pounds.)

Anyway, he was born, I think. He was born weighing either one or two pounds and some very odd ounces. Bob was born at his home in Trilla, the youngest of five children, on December 23rd, yes, this very day in 1926. This day makes Bob only 95 years old. Uh, I mean 75 years old.

Bob’s sister said they put him in a shoebox and placed him near the cookstove to keep him warm. And at night Bob slept in a drawer. I don’t know if he was "in his drawers" or in a chest of drawers. But we love him regardless of his birth weight or his age.

THE BABY HAS BEEN BORN! The Christ child has been born. Not only born, but raised to manhood and did his thing as the Savior of the world. Lived the life and died the death.

PROP.- Let’s consider three thoughts about our Savior.

1- The birth - miraculous

2- The blessing - salvation

3- The beauty - Christ

I. THE BIRTH - MIRACULOUS

Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

The virgin will give birth. And Mary did. The virgin birth. Do you believe it?

ILL.- A father asked his little boy, "What did you learn in Sunday School today?"

The little boy said, "We learned about how Moses went behind enemy lines to rescue the Jews from the Egyptians. Moses ordered engineers to build a pontoon bridge over the Red Sea. After the people crossed the crossed, he sent bombers back to blow up the bridge and the Egyptian tanks that were following them."

His father asked, "Did the teacher really tell you that?"

His boy said, "NO, BUT IF I TOLD YOU WHAT HE REALLY SAID YOU WOULD NEVER BELIEVE IT!"

Brothers and sisters, that’s the problem that some people have when it comes to the miracles of the Bible. THEY DON’T REALLY BELIEVE THEM!

ILL.- The publication Christianity Today had a brief article stating, "MOST BRITISH CLERGY DON’T BELIEVE THE BIBLE." Only three out of 103 church leaders told the BBC they believe in a literal, six-day creation story, only 13 believe in Adam and Eve, and 25% of those surveyed don’t believe in the Virgin Birth.